MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) program, Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), has set aside PHP130 million for 25,000 displaced workers due to the stricter Alert Level 3 imposition this January.
The recipients will be given one-time financial assistance of PHP5,000 each, provided they qualify and submit the complete application requirements.
The initial budget of PHP130 million for this batch of affected workers comes from the total PHP1 billion allocation for CAMP 3, which was obtained from DOLE’s budget for this year.
The entire program is expected to benefit a total of 200,000 workers.
As of January 26, 22,000 unemployed workers have applied for the cash benefit. 5,000 of these applications have been approved, 12,000 are still under evaluation, while more than 4,000 are for further verification.
Who are qualified and not qualified?
CAMP 3 covers employees from private establishments that have implemented permanent closure and retrenchment, or temporary closure due to the restrictions imposed by Alert Level 3 (or higher, should the need arise) from January 2022 onwards.
Affected workers (from private establishments) are categorized as:
- Displaced workers – workers whose employment is permanently terminated by reason of retrenchment or permanent closure of an establishment
- Suspended workers – workers whose employment is temporarily suspended by reason of the temporary closure or suspension of operations of the employer’s business establishment
In Department Order No. 232 signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, the following are NOT included in the CAMP Program:
- Government employees
- Tourism sector workers (as they already receive assistance from DOLE’s CAMP in collaboration with the Department of Tourism)
- Foreigners
Requirements:
Below is the list of requirements to avail of the cash assistance.
For affected establishments:
- Report of retrenchment, temporary closure, or permanent closure while under Alert Level 3 and higher; active account with DOLE Establishment Reporting System
- Latest payroll (November or December 2021, or January 2022 onwards) with a complete list of affected employees or:
- proof of payment of wages via logbook or ledger
- employment contract
- cash voucher or a petty cash voucher
- authority to debit account sent by the employer to the bank for the wage of employees
- Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and Philippine Home Development Fund (Pag-IBIG) Alphalist or list of remittances, or
- list of employees with 13th month pay
For individual applicants:
- clear photo of the applicant holding a valid government-issued identification (ID)
- duly notarized proof of unemployment dated during the period of Alert Level 3 or higher (i.e. Certificate of Employment, Notice of Termination, Notarized Affidavit of Termination Employment, or Notice of Temporary Lay-Off) with a stated period.
Online application and submission of requirements may be done at https://reports.dole.gov.ph/
Applicants may also contact the DOLE hotline 1349 or DOLE Regional and Field offices, by visiting dole.gov.ph for other contact information.
Upon submission of requirements, the concerned DOLE regional office shall evaluate the applications within three working days from receipt of documents.
DOLE Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay advised applicants to check that they are submitting complete requirements that are clear and readable for fast verification and approval.
Should some problems arise, Tutay said, “Kapag na-deny, huwag kayo agad susuko kasi minsan may kailangan lang linawin doon sa application. Kaya i-submit lang kung ano man ang kaukulang dokumento para ma-approve ang inyong application.”
(Don’t lose hope if you are denied because sometimes they just need to clarify something in your application. So just submit all the required documents to get your application approved)
Sources: Philippine News Agency, Manila Bulletin